When I walk outside right now the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, and my cherry tomatoes are overflowing! It’s time to learn how to make sun dried tomatoes!
Issa is a wild and rebellious mama who wants to live a carefree life where that little anxious voice is put on mute. How about you? As a writer she feels successful if just one other person feels any comfort or inspiration from what she’s written.
It’s been 4 years since the keto diet cured my back pain. Then it went ahead and cured my sleep habits, my migraines, my reflux, my plantar fasciitis, my menstrual cycle, and my depression. Suffice it to say, keto changed my life.
I’ve written a keto quick start guide that is the least you need to know to get started eating keto. If you just want to jump right in and get started without a lot of extra details this keto quick start guide is for you. Additionally, at the end I’ve included a troubleshooting checklist for if you have any problems along the way.
Issa is a wild and rebellious mama who wants to live a carefree life where that little anxious voice is put on mute. How about you? As a writer she feels successful if just one other person feels any comfort or inspiration from what she’s written.
I know it’s only February, but I have been spring dreaming the last few days! I’m ready to break out my tank tops and swing on a hammock in a gentle breeze. Sure, it might snow tomorrow, but my mood is looking to the future.
That makes it a great time to revisit my Bright Summer Salsa. This is one of my favorite sunny day foods! It’s spring and summer and fresh and color all swirled together in a beautiful deliciousness. You can eat it as a salsa with tortilla chips. Or you can do it like I do – straight from the bowl with a spoon!
This salsa includes corn, black olives, tomatoes, red onion, and bell pepper for bright bursts of flavor.
It’s got olive oil and avocado to smooth and balance out the flavors.
Then there’s jalapeño, lime, and salt to perk things up.
Issa is a wild and rebellious mama who wants to live a carefree life where that little anxious voice is put on mute. How about you? As a writer she feels successful if just one other person feels any comfort or inspiration from what she’s written.
If you’re a compost beginner, never fear! Composting is one of my favorite things in the world, and you’re going to love it, too! I mean, think about it… you can take your trash and turn it into something highly useful. How awesome is that?!
9 years ago I was a compost beginner living in a rental house. A house of my very own with all the yard in the world was right around the corner, but I wanted to get started with composting right away. When you’ve got enough of your own land you can have permanent compost bins. But as long as I was renting I got started with garbage cans.
I started with a big trash can (I don’t remember the gallons, but it’s about 3 feet tall) with a good lid. I drilled holes in the bottom and sides for air flow and bug access. Then I started dumping in our waste.
Some things that DO go in the compost:
Egg shells and cardboard egg cartons
Fruit rinds, peels, seeds, and pits
Veggie tops, bottoms, and wilted stuff
Coffee grinds and our eco-friendly coffee filters
Paper towels, cardboard toilet paper rolls
Swept up random debris and dog hair
You might be amazed at how quickly this stuff builds up!
Some things that DON’T go in the compost:
Meat, cheese, or any dairy
Greasy or saucy stuff
Bread, pasta, and rice are kept to a minimum
People or dog manure
At one point my trash can compost got maggots. As a compost beginner, I pretty much panicked at that point! I knew the whole thing must be ruined. But, nope. Turns out they were a sign that my compost was too wet and had too much nitrogen. I worked in a LOT more dried leaves than I had previously been using, and the maggots went away.
Compost is easy like that. Even when you’re a compost beginner, problems are pretty simple and easy to turn around.
Another sign of a problem I enjoy looking out for is the smell. Contrary to popular belief, compost should smell good. It should not smell like a rotting mess. It should have a clean, earthy, dirt smell. During the maggot period, my compost smelled like shit. Literally. After working in more brown yard stuff, the smell came back to the pleasant earthy smell (with heavy coffee overtones!) I really love smelling my compost, both to check in on it and just to get a big nose-full of the earth-happy project I’m working on.
Are you a compost beginner? What do you need to know to get started?
Issa is a wild and rebellious mama who wants to live a carefree life where that little anxious voice is put on mute. How about you? As a writer she feels successful if just one other person feels any comfort or inspiration from what she’s written.
You can learn how to raise a pig! I did it, and you can do it. In 2009 my partner and I moved from the suburbs of Atlanta to rural Tennessee. We put in a little garden and got a few chickens, but one of our big dreams was learning how to raise a pig. Well, two pigs, because pigs need friends! Learning how to raise a pig was a lot of fun, very satisfying, and now our freezer is always full of delicious meat we raised right here on our own property.
HOW MUCH MANURE DOES A PIG MAKE – You don’t strictly need to know this, but it’s one of the interesting questions that arises when you raise pigs, and this guest post plays around with the numbers a bit.
FIRST PIG SLAUGHTERED AT THE WALLOW – As you learn how to raise a pig, you will come to the choice of whether or not to do your own processing. This post is 44 pictures of the entire process start to finish of slaughtering a pig and butchering it into halves.
HOW MUCH MEAT FROM A PIG – This is one of my most popular articles. Whether you are learning how to raise a pig yourself or you are participating in a pig share, and the end of the day everyone wants to know how much meat they will get. In this article you will learn:
For more information on raising pigs, these two books are both excellent sources – How to Raise Pigs and Storey’s Guide to Raising Pigs. (Aff links.) I used both of them when I was getting started. Whether you’re raising pigs for pets, getting started raising a 4H pig, or going purely for yummy pork, either of these books will help you out in getting started.
Do you have any other questions about how to raise a pig?
Issa is a wild and rebellious mama who wants to live a carefree life where that little anxious voice is put on mute. How about you? As a writer she feels successful if just one other person feels any comfort or inspiration from what she’s written.